Does anyone here use an algae scrubber?

[BrianMac]

Just curious if this would be a better alternative to a protein skimmer?

 

[Turbosnail]

I know reefkeeper2 uses one with a skimmer and he is in Bridgewater also.

 

[JohnK]

That's part of the hype santamonica was pushing during the pure shilling phase of getting his buisness going. Possible, yes. A true alternative to a skimmer - probably not in most systems...

 

[BrianMac]

So it's another fish oil

 

[JohnK]

IMO the newer scrubber designs are certainly useful equipment and could be very useful for many systems, but the whole "insted of" or "replaces" the skimmer is silly marketing/shilling BS.

So some googling on "santa monica scrubber" if you don't know the background story I'm referring to. Basically a guy figured out how to re-work an old methodology and make it work better, {saw the potential for personal gain}, and effectively mega spammed the entire fish related internet pushing how amazing the new scrubbers are and how they were soooo good that they made skimmers obsolete, AND that he had no investment in it other than sharing the greatest thing since artifical sea salt and then..... wait for it.... Wait for it..... Yup suddenly he became a buisness selling scrubbers and info related to them.

Potentially a great gadget, but don't buy into the BS hype and claims. Keep your skimmer, but if you're curious by all means try out a new style scrubber

 

[MrX]

Potentially a great gadget, but don't buy into the BS hype and claims. Keep your skimmer, but if you're curious by all means try out a new style scrubber

I saw that 'spam' post pop up on the Fox Valley Reef Club (WI) I frequent and then a few weeks later the same exact thing popped up here. I read it and thought it might be a good additional item in the arsenal, but by no means would I remove my skimmer or anything else. Really, if you are handy, can build it yourself, and it takes a little (or a lot) of algae out of the rest of the system then woo hoo. Otherwise you're not really any worse off (hopefully).

If none of the big names (John K, etc.) from this club are using them or validating this idea I'll probably just skip it; plenty of other things to spend my time doing.

 

[JohnK]

Haha, those spam/shilling posts were just a couple of drops in a very big bucket. The original santamonica went to great lengths to "share" his great discovery for no personal gain {ie created a market} for quite a while before suddenly coming out as commercail {hiding behind a fascade of not commercail / DIY support}. It's a soap opera that's been playing out for several yrs. Santamonica has been banned from most of all the big forums, but has created/nurtured/employed numerous minions to continue to promote his ideas {buisness}. It's not that the ideas are bad at all, just that the marketing is BS.

FWIW reefkeeper2 and IIRC at least a couple of other very respectable locals are using these scrubbers and finding them to be quite useful. It's not that the new scrubbers aren't good, it's just that the marketing/shilling process attached a lot of BS claims to them. Kind of like if someone started pushing GFO as a replacement for all other forms of filtration and water changes. GFO would still be a very useful, but the cliams about replacing all other filtration and water changes would be a big smelly pile of BS attached to an otherwise very good thing

 

[BrianMac]

I wasn't planning on ditching the skimmer. I'm in the process of re-doing my "fish zone" and while looking for ideas, I stumbled upon the scrubber.

 

[JohnK]

Then I think it's well worth considering, just beware of the poop on the otherwise perfect looking lawn

 

[inverted]

That's part of the hype santamonica was pushing during the pure shilling phase of getting his buisness going. Possible, yes. A true alternative to a skimmer - probably not in most systems...

"was pushing" as in he stopped LOL? I've never seen it as an alternative, algae removes nutrients after they decay. A skimmer ideally removes them before they decay. If you remove them before they decay, you remove a lot of other stuff with it. Lots of nasties, such as metals can bind to organics, they don't bind to inorganic nutrients. Not that it isn't good to remove inorganic too, but it's not the same thing. Also, skimmers will remove some organic carbon, turf scrubbers will remove some indirectly, but they also fix atmospheric CO2, to produce organic carbon. Some may be released before the algae is remove, so, there may be a net increase (or at least no decrease), whereas, there should be some decrease via skimming (how efficient a skimmer will decrease DOC is another debate).

 

[dz6t]

His website doesn't seem to be well maintained.
But, the nice looking little box he invented is not a bad idea, may be just not big enough to have actual impact.

 

[reefkeeper2]

I have had a scrubber now for a year and it has worked well. I also have a skimmer and run biopellets. I would not try to use any of those methods alone to keep my reef. I think it takes a combination of strategies to get where you want to go with this hobby.
That said, I can say the scrubber has allowed me to feed my fish a whole lot more than I used to. Basically I feed what I want and I don't worry about it. It has also helped (but not eliminated) my low night time pH problem. So do I like it? Yes. Do I recommend it? Yes. Would I run one alone? No.